A brillant day in the midst of rain...

We awoke to find our summer day feel like we were in the middle of a very cold monsoon. The rain was blowing almost sideways and our little umbrellas made good for a Mary Poppins imitation as they blew their tops. But we boarded our train at Victoria station and headed south for Hampton Court Palace. One of the palaces that Henry VIII actually used for himself.

The palace actually belonged to a friend of Henry's, by the name of Cardinal Wolsley. He was second in command in England, Lord Chamberlain, and was so extravagant with his home that eventually he ended up looking better than the king so he gave the home, probably reluctantly, to Henry as a gift. It is still a showplace and was an awesome trip that I highly recommend.


It sits right on the river Thames and has lavish gardens all around it. It is a so amazing.



Pictures of me and Kristen outside the Palace. Since it was kind of rainy not many people were there. We loved touring all around the palace seeing different parts of its history.



They actually had all kinds of period actors from musicians playing the actual type instruments that were around in the 16th century to the Queen herself. They even had a special show going on where they had people working the Tudor kitchens in the same manner they would have for Henry VIII. They actually were making pies, and roasting beef, and we got to watch how they would've prepared food up close. it was so cool and smelled so good. We even ate some homemade bread and chicken casserole in the Privy Kitchen afterwards.

Kristen got a little bit into character in this picture.


Believe me she looks sweet but she can wield an axe like nobody I know. so watch out.
Then we returned back to the hotel for a bit and then went to the musical Wicked. It is an alternate telling of the story of the Wizard of OZ, making the Wicked Witch of the West out not to be so bad a character. It was AMAZING.


The set was awesome. The singers were awesome and the story was so good. In the end it turned out to be a romantic comedy, sort of, anyway we LOVED it and highly recommend it to anyone. It was so much fun.


Well tomorrow we might go to the Tower of London and maybe do some shopping at Harrods. Cheers to all.